Blowing machine for insulation and the like



Dec. 5, 1950 A. L. WEDEBROCK 2,532,351

BLOWING MACHINE FOR INSULATION AND THE LIKE Filed June 2, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l l I r INVENTOR Z0 24 46 48 4%4/6440 Lflfvfaiac/n.

U I II I IHIII/ ATTORN EY Dec. 5, 1950 A. L. WEDEBROCK 2,532,351 r BLOWING MACHINE FOR INSULATION AND THE LIKE Filed June 2, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Jet/M9440 A KaEaAac c va/Maw ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 5, 1950 BLOWING MACHINE FQRIINSULATION AND THE LIKE Archibald L. Wedebrock, West-wood, 3. as-

signcr to Johns-Manville Corporation, New

York, N. Y., acorporation of. Newllork Application June 2, 1945, Serial no. 55972303 7 filaims.

The instant invention relates to improved machines for pneumatically conveying insulat ing'materials: and the. like. in particulate form.

At the present time a common method of insulatingwa-ll spaces; such as the wall spaces defined by the studding, inner lathing and outer sheathing of frame buildings, resides in pneumatically filling such spaces witha bulk insulating material. A preferred insulating media comprises mineral wool in the form of relatively small aggregates known commercially as nodulated or granulated mineral wool. It will be understood that theterm mineral wool is used herein in a generic sense to include'fibers or fibrous material formed of rock, slag, glassmixtures thereof, and other suitable raw materials. The filling of the wall spaces is accomplished by a blowing machine comprising a blower, a discharge line intowhich the bulk insulating material is fed from a suitable hopper, and a hose extending from the discharge line and including a nozzle to be inserted in openings formed in the building wall.

The instant invention is concernedwitlr, and has for its principal obiect,-the provision of an improved blowing machine for use in operations of the kind referred to above. More particularly, an object of the invention is the provision of a blowing machine which. achieves an improved automatic feed of insulating material whereby, as compared to prior practice, a steadier discharge is attained and more uniform coverage, 1. e., density of the deposited wool, is produced.

Another object of the invention is the .provision of a blowing machine including an insulation-receiving hopper and means for feeding the insulation from the hopper to the air conduit, both of an improved design.

My invention will be more fully. understood and further objects and advantages thereof will becomeapparent when referenceis made to the more detailed description of the invention which is. to follow and to the .accompanyingdrawings in which:

Fig. l is aview partially injelevationandpar- .tially in section of ablowing machineembodying the instantinvention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view ofthe apparatus of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a sectionalview taken on the line 3-3.of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an end elevational view of the appa ratus of Figs. 1 and .2 and E'ig. 5 is a sectional View taken onthe line 5--5:0f.:Eig.:i1.

Referring now tothe drawings, there is shown a. blowing machine; indicated generally at. 10, adapted particularly foruse in the installation of an insulating filling in building walls and other. well spaces of acharacter to receive bulk insulatingmaterials, such as nodulated mineral wool and the like. It will be'understood that the machine of the inventionis not limited to use with any particular bulk insulating material.

Machine ll! comprises aframe or base I2 suitably made up of I-beams, as shown, joined to.- gether to provide a platform for the-'suppor-tof the several elements of the apparatus. Supported. on frame I2 is a-hopper l4= adapted to receive-the material to be "blown. Hopper l4 (see particularlyFigs. 4 and 5) includes a substantially vertical sidewall "i and an inclined side wall a l 8' connected at theirlower sides "by a curved bottom wall 2! Extending from a-nend wall of the hopper (seeFigs. 1. and 3) is a restricted passageway 22 defined. by tubular member '24 secured around an opening formed in the end of the hopper a diaeentwsa-idvbottom and. vertical sidewalls. If desired; member 24, at least in part, may be formedintegrally with the side and bottom wall elements, or it may be made as .a-separatemember and welded or otherwise secured to the hopper. The end of member 24 remotefrom the. hopper storms one armrof av '25 having tubular" branches :23 and 39 for a. purpose later to be described.

A platform .32 supported from the main frame [2 as by-legs 34 carries -a blower-36. of any suit.- able-typesuch, for example, as that .lrnown in the trade as a .Root blower and conventionally used inhlowing machines of the type under consid.- oration. Aprimemover M, suitably an internal combustion: engine as illustrated, is also supported on platform 32 and :may be enclosed, as illustrated, by housing 38. The motor Maisar ranged to driveblowersfitthrough the intermediary-of suitable pulleys and belting, as shown, and-through a .gear box l lrof any conventional constructionwhich serves to transmit the=p0wer from the motor-to. the. blower. and other operated parts, to drive .themattheir desired relative speeds... The @clischarge outlet 42 of blower :36. is connected by means of a flexible hose, ,or other a suitable fitting Ill -with branch 23 of V-member .2 5. illhe other arm 38 oi the Y- memberis connected =with adeliveryhose-45; l-Iose 44,:branches .28ua11d. island delivery hose-(sh together form a discharge; conduit lead n from the blower :to maniacs-oi depos o the zinsu a icstmateriek Hose 45 is of substantial length so that it may extend from the blowing machine, placed in a suitable location, to the spaces to be insulated and is provided with a nozzle or other fitting (not shown) for insertion in the openings leading into such spaces.

A screw conveyor ,6 carried by a shaft 48 extends the length of the hopper adjacent the bottom wall thereof and projects into restricted passageway 22 to a point just beyond the juncture with branch 28, as shown particularly in Fig. 3. the shaft 48 being supported in bearings 50 and 52 carried by posts 5i and 53, respectively, projecting upwardly from the opposite ends of frame l2. A packing gland 54 preferably surrounds shaft 48 at the point where it penetrates the wall of the Y-member (see Fig. 3) to prevent leakage of the flowing air. The diameter of the screw is such that it relatively closely fits the restricted passageway.

A breaker bar, indicated generally at 58, eX- tends longitudinally of the hopper and comprises a shaft E3!) carrying a plurality of breaker arms 62. As shown, the alternate breaker arms lie in a common plane at substantially right angles to the common plane of the intermediate breaker arms. In addition, alternate breaker arms preferably extend at an acute angle to the shaft. This construction insures the complete breaking up of enlarged clumps or agglomera'tions of the material discharged into the hopper during the operation of the machine as will later more clearly appear. Shaft 60 lies above, but laterally offset with respect to, screw conveyor 45 (see Fig. 2).' One end of shaft 69 is preferably connected directly into gear DO); 40 to be driven therefrom, as shown, the other end being supported in bearing 54 carried by post 5!. A pulley 56 is keyed on shaft iii! between the end of the hopper and bearing 64. Pulley 65 is in line with a pulley 6% keyed to shaft d8 of the screw conveyor and the pulleysare operatively connected by belt h! whereby the screw conveyor is driven from the gear box through shaft 60.

In the operation of the apparatus described above, the insulating material in bulk form, such as nodulated mineral wool, is poured or otherwise discharged into hopper it! to substantially fill the the Motor M operated to cause rotation of breaker bar 55 and screw conveyor it in the 1 same direction, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 5. Operation of the motor also causes blower 35 to set up a current of air flowing through hose 44 and arms 28 and 3B of Y-member 26 and into delivery hose Large clumps or agglomerations of the insulating material are broken up by the arms of breaker bar 58 whereby the material in the bottom of the hopper adjacent the screw conveyor is in relatively loose, open, fibrous form. The opened material is forced, by combined gravitational action and the rotation of the breaker bar, into the screw conveyor through the rela tively open space 12 along side the conveyor. Rotation of the screw forces the material forward-1y through restricted passageway 22 to deposit it in Y-member 26 where it is picked up'by the air stream and carried thereby through hose 45 to the place of discharge, suitably a hollow wall space.

The particular construction and design of the hopper and cooperating screw conveyor and breaker bar including the positioning of the crew conveyor and breaker bar in the hopper, all as described above, insures that the conveyor will continuously pick up a full load of the insulating material and hence maintain the passageway 22 completely filled with. the insulating material to prevent any tendency of the flowing air to blow back through the hopper. The Y-connection between member 24 and the air passageway permits the insulating material to be picked up by the air stream in substantial continuation of the forward movement imparted to it by the screw conveyor and, hence, promotes free flow of the same into and with the air stream. The combined result of the features noted is a continuous and uniform flow of the insulating material through hose 15 whereby the density of the deposited insulation may be maintained substantially constant. The feed is entirely automatic, requiring merely the dumping of the wool into the hopper and the insulating material does not have to be pushed into the feeder by hand as is customary in many machines. The construction of the machine provides for long use without excessive wear.

Having thus described my invention in rather full detail it will be understood that these details need not be strictly adhered to but that various changes and modifications may suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, all falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the subjoined claims.

What I claim is:

1. A blowing machine for insulation and the like comprising a hopper having relatively converging side walls, a blower, a discharge conduit leading from the blower, a restricted passageway leading from said hopper and forming a Y-conncction with said conduit, a screw conveyor extending substantially the length of said hopper along the bottom thereof and closely adjacent one wall to leave a space between it and the opposite wall, said conveyor projecting into said passageway to deliver material from said hopper to said conduit, and for rotating he screw conveyor toward opposite wall.

2. A blowing machine for insulation and the like comprising a hopper having relatively converging side walls, a blower, a discharge conduit leading from the blower, a restricted passageway leading from said hopper in communication with said conduit, a screw conveyor extending substantially the length of said hopper along the bottom thereof and closely adjacent one wall thereof to leave a space between it and the opposite wall, a breaker bar in said hopper, said breaker bar being laterally offset with respect to said screw conveyor and with its axis vertically above said space, said conveyor projecting into said restricted passageway to deliver material from said hopper to said conduit, and means for rotating said breaker bar toward said one wall.

3. A blowing machine for insulation and the like comprising a hopper, a blower, a discharge conduit leading from the blower, a restricted passageway leading from said hopper and forming a Y-connection with said conduit, a screw conveyor extending from said hopper into said restricted passageway to deliver material from said hopper to said conduit, the conveyor deiining a space with a wall Of the hopper, a breaker bar rotatably supported in laterally oifset rela tionship to the screw conveyor and vertically above said space, and means for rotating said breaker bar toward said wall. I

4. A blowing machine for insulation and. the like comprising a hopper having a substantiallv vertical wall and an inclined wall connected by a bottom wall, a blower, a discharge conduit leading from the blower, a restricted passageway leading from said hopper adjacent said bottom wall and in communication with said conduit, a screw conveyor lying closely adjacent said vertical and bottom walls and spaced from said inclined wall, said conveyor projecting into said passageway, and means for rotating said screw conveyor toward said inclined wall.

5. A blowing machine for insulation and the like comprising a hopper having a substantially vertical wall and an inclined wall connected by a bottom wall, a blower, a discharge conduit leading from the blower, a restricted passageway leading from said hopper adjacent said bot-- tom wall and in communication with said conduit, a screw conveyor lying closely adjacent said vertical and bottom walls and leaving a space between it and said inclined wall, said conveyor projecting into said passageway, a breaker bar extending longitudinally of said hopper vertically above said space and in lateral, offset relationship to said conveyor, said breaker bar including laterally extending breaker arms, and means for rotating the bar toward said inclined wall.

6. A blowing machine for insulation and the like comprising a hopper having a substantially vertical wall and an inclined wall connected by a bottom wall, a blower, a discharge conduit leading from the blower, a restricted passageway leading from said hopper adjacent said bottom wall and in communication with said conduit, a screw conveyor lying adjacent said vertical and bottom walls and leaving a space between it and said inclined wall, said conveyor projecting into said passageway, a breaker bar extending longitudinally of said hopper vertically above said space and in lateral, ofiset relationship to said conveyor, and means for rotating said conveyor and breaker bar toward said inclined wall.

7. In a hopper for insulation or the like, relatively converging side walls including an out wardly and upwardly inclined wall and a bottom wall connecting said side walls, a screw conveyor extending substantially the length of said hopper, said conveyor being positioned closely adjacent the bottom wall to define a space with said inclined wall, said bottom wall curving from said inclined wall to a point below said conveyor whereby material deposited in said hopper will be delivered by said inclined wall and curved bottom wall laterally to said conveyor and bridging across the conveyor will be prevented, a breaker bar in said hopper, said breaker bar being vertically above said space and laterally offset with respect to said screw conveyor, and means for rotating said breaker bar and conveyor toward said inclined wall.

ARCHIBALD L. WEDEBROCK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 449,122 Johnston Mar. 31, 1891 784,281 Schacht Mar. 7, 1905 1,463,457 Beckmann July 31, 1923 1,668,324 Kreisinger May 1, 1928 1,675,090 Burns et a1 June 26, 1928 1,866,005 Beaty July 5, 1932 1,924,675 Bernert Aug. 29, 1933 2,005,681 Norquist June 18, 1935 2,127,726 Goetz Aug. 23, 1988 2,311,773 Patterson Feb. 23, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 346,877 Great Britain Apr. 123, 1931 

